Romero, stars jason beghe and kate mcneil, executive producer peter grunwald, and special effects legends tom savini, greg nicotero and everett burrell. An experiment in fear is a 1988 american horror film written and directed by george a. It is one of those movies that has some of everything. A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the. With jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten. Trained by a specialist kate mcneil, the animal, renamed ella, becomes his second body, fetching his food and books, dialing the. All that changes when hes given ella, a monkey trained to meet his every need. Mann fails to adjust to his condition, becoming suicidal and despondent. Romero, with jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, at turner classic movies.
A born and raised in chicago, john is the sixth of nine children. Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, boo ii. Monkey shines is an honorable effort that doesnt quite work. Contemporary theatre, film and television dictionary. When jeff, a scientist friend of his john pankow, who has been experimenting with the injection of human brain tissue into monkeys, learns this, he is prompted to supply one of the. Monkey shines is his first studio picture that looks like a studio picture. Following a suicide attempt, allans friend and scientist, geoffrey john pankow. John pankow, offers allan the use of a monkey from his lab.
Enter kate mcneil melanie parker, a scientist who is working to provide handicapped people with highly trained animal helpers. New an experiment in fear the making of monkey shines an allnew retrospective with writerdirector george a. Romero and starring jason beghe, kate mcneil, john pankow. Still, jason beghe gives a fascinating performance as the paralyzed allan, and the monkey played by a capuchin named boo is sensational. Monkey shines sold out film horror toggle navigation. Stephen root and stanley tucci are really good in their small roles, root plays geoffs cold and cruel boss and tucci plays the slimy, smarmy surgeon that steals alans. Monkey shines hits bluray on november 11, courtesy of scream factory. Monkey shines is a 1983 british psychological horror novel by michael stewart. Allan mann jason beghe is the sort of annoyingly perfect guy who puts bricks in his rucksack just to make his morning jog that much more difficult in george a romeros monkey shines released today on dual format bluray and dvd in the uk. When the opportunity arises for chance and his new bythebook partner john vukovich john pankow monkey shines to get close to masters. I havent read the book so i cant speak with full confidence about the. The two share a telepathic, otherworldly connection until things go horribly wrong.
The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1. To help alan out, his friend geoffrey fischer john pankow trained a monkey named ella boo the monkey to help him with his paralysis. His friend geoffrey john pankow, who is conducting experiments with monkeys, offers allan a welltrained monkey named ella to keep him company and raise his spirits. Romero, stars jason beghe and katie mcneil, executive producer peter grunwald, special makeup effects creator tom savini and more. Monkey shines tells the story of an athlete, alan mann jason beghe, who is rendered quadriplegic when struck by a truck. John pankow, a researcher in craniology, who is absent from his office. In this case, allan, the hero, goes jogging, is struck by a truck and awakens as a quadriplegic. An experiment in fear the making of monkey shines a lengthy retrospective with george a. Romero, based on a novel by michael stewart, directed by george a. As with most scream factory releases, monkey shines looks better than. Written by romero, based on monkey shines 1983 by michael stewart. An experiment in fear a mustsee directed and written by george a.
Monkeyshines 6209 mckee rd, fitchburg, wisconsin 53719 rated 3. A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master. While visiting a friend in new york city, pankow auditioned for, and won, a role in a for an episode of pbs great performances entitled life on the mississippi. The longer she and allan spend together, however, the more their minds become telepathically linked and ellas. But when ella begins anticipating allans thoughts, strange and deadly things start happening. Monkey shines shows readers the chaos that ensues when a wheelchairbound young man consumes psychotropic, mindenhancing drugs meant to be administered solely to his helper monkey. Allan is a wanttobe lawyer who is training for the olympics and while training gets hit by a truck. Romero and starring jason beghe, kate mcneil, john pankow, and joyce van patten. At first allan loves little ella, but the monkey seems to grow jealous as allan slowly develops a. Romero, actors jason beghe, john pankow and kate mcneil, executive producer peter grunwald, special makeup effects creator tom savini, special makeup effects assistants greg nicotero and everett burrell and editor.
Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, janine turner, boo ii, william. Allans madscientist friend, geoff, injects ella with the. The strangest feature of monkey shines is not ella, though. He began his career onstage in new york, in numerous offbroadway and broadway plays including peter shaffers amadeus, john patrick shanleys italian american reconciliation, and brian friels aristocrats.
And while its only administered to ella in the movie, the book sees allan. The movie was released in 1988 and directed by george a. A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his. A quadriplegic man is given a trained monkey help him with every day activities, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master and those who get too close to him. Directed by george romero and based on the book by michael stewart, monkey shines was.
When alan and ella begin to connect to each other mentally, alan feels ellas aggression and ella lashes out with alans anger. Monkeyshine definition of monkeyshine by merriamwebster. Though well directed, well written, and well performed, theres something missing from it, a dark heart, that would make it leap out like so many other films in the directors filmography. He dabbled in drama during high school, but didnt become serious about acting until enrolled at northeastern illinois university, where he majored in theater arts. John pankow is electric as geoff and brings a lot of humor to the flick. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1988 by director george a. More information on the movie is available on and also imdb. Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, boo ii, janine turner, william. Monkey shines is really a complex film dealing with the ambiguous nature of human motivations.
Alternate ending deleted scenes behindthescenes footage. John pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest and janine turner are all good as his friends and family. That image, to me, misrepresents this picture quite a bit, since monkey shines is much more of a drama picture than a true balls out horror film. We carry books, toys, games, multilingual materials. Personal born february 18, 1957 some sources say 1954 or 1955, in st.
The newly recorded commentary track even shows that romero has a certain fondness for monkey shines, the dark half and bruiser. When alan is trying to read a book, it becomes a monumental effort and in a. New an experiment in fear the making of monkey shines an allnew retrospective with george a. A paralyzed mans life is made easier with the help of ellie, a monkey trained to help disabled people get by with their daily lives. Luckily, his scientist friend geoffrey john pankow is experimenting with capuchin monkeys, making them smarter with injections of human genetic material. The film stars jason beghe as allan mann, an athlete who becomes a paralyzed quadriplegic and develops a bond with an intelligent service monkey. New and exclusive feature length audio commentary by travis crawford. This film marked his entry into jekyll and hyde fare for about a decade and the entries werent terrible. Soon allan is bonding with ella, an adorable capuchin monkey, who, unbeknownst to him, has been injected with human brain tissue by drugaddicted scientist geoffrey fisher john pankow. The concept is interesting, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Jason beghe as allan kate mcneill as melanie john pankow as geoffrey joyce van patten as dorothy christine forrest as nurse hodges. John pankow born april 28, 1954 is an american actor. He left the university in his junior year after he attended a performance of david mamets the american buffalo at the. He went on to perform in several offbroadway productions including aristocrats, italian american reconciliation, and the new york shakespeare festivals the tempest, two gentlemen of verona and henry viii.
Monkeyshine definition is mischievous or playful activity. Jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest. Monkey shines is a 1988 american psychological horror film written and directed by george a. Monkey shines has exactly the sort of ridiculous premise that i love the high concept of service monkey on a rampage is very appealing. Allan mann john beghe is a law student whos hit by a truck while jogging, leaving him a quadriplegic. Romeros horror film monkey shines comes to dvd with a pair of transfers. It is the fact that the first half is all calm, and tedious, exposition. Its plot follows a quadriplegic man whose service animal, a capuchin monkey named ella, grows increasingly violent. Romero, who also directed creepshow 1982 and the dark half 1993. Having received injections to enhance her intelligence, ella is a sympathetic, helpful surrogate caretaker. Monkey shines 1988 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
Romero 1988, region a, 1 minutes, rated r bluray released on november 18th, 2014. With jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci, and janine turner. English and french soundtracks are rendered in dolby digital. Romero, and with jason beghe, john pankow, kate mcneil, joyce van patten, christine forrest, stephen root, stanley tucci. Injected with human brain cells, a superintelligent female monkey is enlisted to help a.
John pankow introduces him to a new helperfriend in the form of capuchin monkey ella boo. The sf element in this horror thriller is ella, a monkey, the subject of an experiment to increase simian intelligence by injecting human genetic material into her brain see apes as. Monkey shines was the start of romeros earnest removal from the world of the dead. Cast includes jason beghe, kate mcneil, john pankow and joyce van patten. Overview of monkey shines, 1988, directed by george a.